


He's got his beady eyes on me

by howsharry



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Nostalgy, Roxy is Eggsy's daughter, i'm so sorry about that, middle-aged!Eggsy, reencounter after 30+ years, same age au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-18 05:43:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8151116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howsharry/pseuds/howsharry
Summary: After Merlin had told him that Gary Unwin was still alive (and his daughter was indeed candidating for a seat at the Round Table) Harry wastes no time reestablishing contact to his childhood friend. Far from eye does not mean far from heart.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _Every story has its chapters in the desert, the long slide from kingdom to kingdom through the wilderness, where you learn things, where you're left to your own devices.(...) They want you to love the whole damn world but you won't, you want it all narrowed down to one (exquisite) man in the bath._  
>  \- Richard Siken, _Driving, Not Washing_

As Harry became older it became more and more clear to him that he should have settled down with an agreeing partner before his fourties. Of course, twenty-one years ago - when he had shared the bed with a different man each night (or so it seemed in his memory compared to his lifestyle nowadays) - he had not been that far-sighted. 

Life had treated Harry well with a handsome face and a lean body, a stable background and excellent education. After leaving Cambridge at twenty-five, he became a Kingsman agent through his father‘s connections. His life until now seemed to him like a blur of excitement, pleasures and blood. He remembered his diplomatic missions, missions which the security of the world depended on, and his honeypots just as well. He remembered pulling pranks on Merlin, remembered his colleagues dying. 

Now that he was slowly gliding into retirement (well, there would be another ten or fifteen years ahead for him, but surely the physical part of his work would slowly grow smaller and smaller) he had time to reflect. And he realized that reflecting didn‘t do him any good.

The excitement of his life, his role in the gears of global coherencies, had done a splendid job to distract him of the truth: that he was helplessly alone. 

Harry woke up in the morning and began missing to know how it felt to have someone breathe next to you, longed for any heat, a physical appearance. He knew he could pick up somebody, a young thing perhaps, to fill his bed for a couple nights a week but he wasn‘t a man like that and he knew himself well enough to know that a body alone wouldn‘t help.

Harry had a hard time falling in love. People annoyed him, mostly, men and women just the same. Late in his life he had realized that all the men he had fallen in love with had been predictable, good-hearted souls. They loved him - for a time at least - but they didn‘t understand him. His words scratched on the surface of their brain but there was rarely any shared emotional experience, any recognition of how he would feel.

Well, Harry‘s life didn‘t had much place for empathy anyway. He told his lovers just as much as they had to know. Nothing about being tortured for hours, escaping, seeking revenge, having to torture, having to sacrifice other people‘s lifes...it would change their view on him so fundamentally that they would not dare to look into his eyes afterwards. 

Of course after some bad experiences he searched for love in his own field of work and discovered that everyone else was just as faulty as him: closed off, vain, dangerous and all controlled emotions. All pretty surface but no depth. Their work was a storm that never seemed to pass, sending them around the world, slaughtering and saving, and changing them so permanently. 

So instead of concentrating on being lonely, Harry counted his blessings. His friend, Merlin, his beautiful house, his many connections, his good scotch and a healthy body. Power, too. Being Arthur definitely made his life more comfortable and satisfied his natural authority. But comparing his life to that of others, Lancelot and Percival who had found each other, Merlin who was going into his 20th marriage anniversary with his wife Margaret, he still felt miserable.

Merlin and Margaret cared about him, too much, he thought. Or maybe he was just sulking so obviously that they couldn‘t bare the sight of him and instead invited him for wine and food around on all the important holidays. Harry disliked going over to Merlin‘s house and not being able to talk to him about Kingsman (especially since Margaret was a journalist), but he did go nonetheless, talking about nonsense and domestic shit all evening. 

This year‘s christmas he still went, ate and politely talked. He had more fun than he would ever admit, feeling whole-heartedly accepted in the little cottage they were living in on the rare time both had free-time simultaneously, and being humoured by the differences between the pair. Margaret was very outgoing, curious and energetic, while Merlin...well. Merlin hadn‘t changed from the day he had met him at Cambridge in Week Zero, gruffy, tired, remarkably quick-witted. They shared a certain kind of mischievousness and a lot of dry sarcasm. 

After dinner, while Margaret went upstairs and the men cleaned the table, the conversation turned back to Kingsman.

„Our new recruits seem interesting“, Merlin muttered and programmed the dishwasher.

„Do you have the files here?“

„In my study“, Merlin laughed and Harry followed him down the short hallway into a small room filled with books, a desk and two worn chairs.

„I always forget how HQ would look like if the safety regulations didn‘t make you keep order“, Harry chuckled and threw a look around the messy room. „Hell, it looks worse than last time.“

„The emergency escape route is free“, Merlin huffed, pointing his finger at the window. „I can assist you with a kick in the arse.“

„No thank you“, Harry answered, crunching his nose and sinking down in the office chair opposite to Merlin. The handler hauled his private notebook from a drawer and opened it up, tapping on the mouse-pad impatiently. Finally, he had found the digital files and let Harry browse through them.

„A promising heap“, Harry noted and pushed the laptop back to his friend.

„You didn‘t recognize anyone, huh?“

„Should I?“, Harry frowned.

Merlin‘s brows furrowed deeply as he browsed back to the file he was talking about. He showed it to Harry.

‚Roxanne Unwin‘, it read, 25 years old from London. MI6 training programme, Royal Navy, mountain climbing and surfing. 

„Uh-uh?“

„The name, you brick.“

„Unwin, yes.“

„You told me - some years ago - how when your father died he left almost half of his welth to your gardener. He was called Unwin, wasn‘t he?“

Harry leaned back, staring at Merlin pointedly. „Why do you remember this?“

„I need blackmail material in case you go rogue.“

„Very funny, you twat“, Harry snorted. „But Unwin is a fairly common name, I‘m sure.“

„Yes, but her DNA matched Gary Unwin‘s.“

Harry stilled for a second. Memories flashed back to him from a time when he had been a boy and the world was still a garden around his father‘s house. The garden, the small lake, the gardener‘s son. 

„I ran her data through the police records of the last thirty years. Gary Unwin went a bit mad in his young years“, Merlin smiled, not noticing the absent look on Harry‘s face yet. „But Roxanne seems like a perfect match without a police record. Not so much of a trouble-maker like her father.“

Harry smiled shortly and swallowed hard. It had been years since he last thought about Gary- no, Eggsy, Unwin. 

„He, uh, lives in London, too?“, he could finally ask with a dry mouth. Merlin finally looked up to him from his screen and sighed as he saw his friend‘s melancholic expression. 

„He works for MI6“, Merlin said with a smile. „He‘s become an agent.“

 

The next week Harry let his secretary contact MI6 and left a message for Eggsy, inviting him and his daughter into HQ for a visitation-day of sorts right before her training will officially begin. Until now he‘s spent most of his nights rethinking about childhood memories, experincing a longing he had long forgotten. 

Behind the garden hedge back at his family's estate (skillfully trimmed by Eggsy‘s father) there had been a healthy meadow with little muddy banks on slow rivers and a lake with overhanging willows. They had played there as kids and later canoed over the water. Had shared there first cigarette by the lake and watched the stars all night. 

It had been peaceful and safe, disconnected from a world both of them hadn‘t even been remotely interested in. Harry didn‘t think he ever felt that close to a person again, felt that much trust for a human being, loved someone so innocently and unselfishly. 

Then came his 18th fall and he was sent to Cambridge. Dully, he remembered the sorrow he had felt, but the memory was soon overcoloured by the excitement of his new university life. Eggsy had began working in the neighbour town when Harry went back home for summer break. He had seen him once walking with a girl and another time driving in the back of a pick-up, beer bottle in one hand and a wide grin on his face. 

There were a lot of questions on his mind regarding the rest of Eggsy‘s biography. The both outstanding one were: how did he get into MI6 and what were the circumstances of his fatherhood. 

Harry had never seeked out contact to anyone from his youth. After his father died twenty-five years ago his childhood had ended all of the sudden. He was left with a financial inheritance of old money and a country house he soon ignored. Oh, what a fool he had been to give up on the golden meadows, the silent rooms and the security of the garden walls. 

Charly, his secretary came in and cleared his throat, waking Harry from his day dreams. 

„Sir, the Unwins have accepted your invitation.“

Harry nodded and muttered a ‚thank you‘ before he turned around to the window again and gazed over the grounds of HQ.


	2. Chapter 2

Two days after new year most of the holiday return traffic took place in London and Harry‘s cab was rolling in walking speed through inner London. Adding that to the time he needed because the security system blocked him a few times (‚Server problems‘ Merlin hushed him, secretly smiling) he was twenty minutes late for his meeting at the manor. His very important meeting wita man he hadn't seen in 32 years. 

„Where are they?“, Harry called out as soon as he spotted Merlin in the hallways. The handler looked at him innocently as Harry jogged over and took a deep breath from his morning hurry.

„Walking the grounds“, Merlin said, voice soothing and obviously humoured by Harry‘s appearance. His locks had extracted themselves from their careful styling, his tie knot was ajar and his pupils blown. „Are you nervous?“

„Why would I be nervous“, Harry muttered, trying to eradicate his dishevelled hair with the flat of his palm. 

„Because you haven‘t seen him in 32 years?“, Merlin answered, brows furrowed as he concentrated to adjust Harry‘s tie. 

Harry huffed, pulling his shirtsleeves straight and ghosting over the cuff links with his thumb. „This is more about his daughter than him“, he lied and avoided Merlin‘s eyes. His friend didn‘t know to what extent Eggsy had had an impact on his life, he wasn‘t sure himself to be honest. 

„I‘ll send Charly to call them in and serve tea in your office“, Merlin sighed and left Harry to his own.

Harry took a deep breath and straightened his back. His heart was still thumping with adrenaline but slowly he was becoming more steady, more himself. As Arthur he had to represent Kingsman at any moment with a cool demeanour and an on-top appearance.

He walked to the main door of the manor and stood on the threshold while the two - father and daughter - approached through the snow. Harry couldn‘t see much from the distance besides their parkers and a small dogs jumping between them happily. As they closed the distance, Harry could make out Eggsy better. He was still smaller (although Harry had always betted that Eggsy would catch up in a growth spurt some summer) and more compact than him. 

Harry braced himself for the details. The boy he knew didn‘t exist any more. Eggsy was only a few years younger than himself, had a dangerous life similar to his. 

Father and daughter talked to each other quietly and kept their heads low, staring at their feet. Harry was starting to get nervous, a gut-wrenching kind this time. Cold gusts of air and snow swayed over the grass but he kept standing in the doorway, waiting for the pair to arrive. 

"My apologies for the delay", he offered as soon as they got in the door.

Roxanne stepped in first and Harry stepped back into the hallway to let her through. She introduced herself, smiling brightly and pressing his hand self-securely. She talked to him further but Harry‘s gaze wandered from her face over her shoulder, where Eggsy was shaking snow off the hood of his parker and pulling the zipper down. When their eyes finally met, Harry felt like time had stopped for 32 years. He felt out of his skin for a moment, Eggsy‘s wary eyes unsettling him more than he wished they could but he distantly remembered their wariness and careful piercing. A cut in the left brow, thick eyelashes, dark bags under the eyes. 

Eggsy pushed off his parker and smiled brightly, breaking the tension between them. Internally, Harry crumpled to the floor. Physically, he took a pained breath and smiled back.

„Well hello“, Eggsy said, teeth glinting from under his curvy lips. „Harry Hart.“

„Eggsy“, Harry said, breathing out what sounded like a chuckle and felt like being stabbed in the chest. 

Eggsy had aged well, better than him in any case. His eyes were framed by kind-looking wrinkles, his skin was freshly shaved and rosy from the cold. Grey temples grew into golden, well groomed hair and a brown pullover coated a broad chest and firm arm muscles. 

Said chest moved forward and before Harry was done taking the details in, Eggsy was pressed flush against him and hugged him tightly. Harry leaned into him, too buffed to really savour the moment, close his eyes or breathe in deeply, but at least Eggsy‘s warmth felt familiar against his skin. 

„Christ“, Harry sighed as Eggsy retreated and smiled at him brightly. He would not stop for a long time, Harry had the feeling, and he was somehow touched an honoured that he was the cause of this whole-hearted grin. „Where have you been all these years?“

„I could ask you the same, Arthur“, Eggsy mocked and let his gaze run over Harry‘s body. „Never would have taken you for one in a suit.“

Oh Eggsy, Harry thought with a chuckle, that was a lifetime ago.

„But here I am“, he said instead, his eyes still surveying the changes in Eggsy‘s face. His cheekbones had lost some edge to them but his jaw was sharp as a knife‘s blade now. „Charly put tea out for us, it will warm us right up.“ He regarded Roxanne, too, feeling a bit impolite after pointing all of his attention to her father. 

He guided them the way to his office and Roxanne and Eggsy followed suit. They had a cup of tea while Harry told them about the manor and Merlin knocked on the door asking if he could show Roxanne around in the training sector. Harry‘s heart was thumping loudly again by the time the two left but he was dearly thankful for the alone time with Eggsy. 

He looked at his childhood friend who had gone still, looking out of the window, face gone neutral but peaceful.

„She is remarkable“, Harry noted and shook his head pointedly at Roxanne‘s now empty chair. Eggsy woke from his stillness and smiled again, regarding Harry with a soft look. 

„The light of my life“, he answered unironically. „Do you have children?“

Harry shook his head. „No. Never had the opportunity.“ Or a partner who was able to bear children. Or the wish to. 

Eggsy laughed roughly. „15 minutes in a shabby back alley was enough for my Roxy.“ His crow feet showed when he smiled so wide. 

Harry tilted his head, trying to find any sarcasm in Eggsy‘s voice. „You must have been what? 25?“

Eggsy nodded. „Yes, 26 when she was born. Wasn‘t an easy time the first couple of months. But neither was it for you.“

„Father died very suddenly around that time“, Harry agreed. „How is Lee?“

„Died five years after Harold.“ 

„I‘m terribly sorry.“

Eggsy leaned back, taking him in. Harry felt like a tiger in a cage, on display and vulnerable. "You mustn't be. Your families money gave us everything we could have hoped for that we couldn't provide for ourselves." Eggsy‘s trained eyes seemed to pierce through Harry‘s head where some years ago a bullet had almost ended his life. The scar left there clearly attracted Eggsy‘s attention, the tissue looked raw and padded even though it was fairly small. Neither of them brought it to notice out loud, though. 

Eggsy coughed and smiled shyly. „So Roxy ended up more than fine. I raised her alone during my training, with my parents‘ help of course“ He shrugged and looked back up to Harry.

„You‘re full of surprises“, Harry said, meaning it with all his soul. 

Eggsy‘s hand reached to rub the back of his neck, a gesture so originally Eggsy from their childhood timed that Harry‘s breath stopped. 

„And you‘re not“, Eggsy answered bluntly but with a grin. „You seemed to have followed the path your dad laid out for you.“

„With some minor changes, yes. He never wanted me to save Margaret Thatcher, I suppose.“

Eggsy chuckled and fingered the tea cup in his hands. 

„And how did you get together with MI6?“

„I was 20, running around in London after leaving the Navy and somehow came to talk to a guy at a house party. He said I looked fit and asked what kinds of sport I was doing, I told him some of my life. He was an agent, hired to find new candidates among the young folks. MI6 gave me some money in training so I could become an agent and support my family later on.“

„Unorthodox methods“, Harry noted. „For that time at least.“

Eggsy smiled again. Harry could watch him smile all day, drink in the looks of him. So satisfied and glowing with joy. The comfortable silence spread until Eggsy took a deep breath.

„I missed sitting with you. Just sitting and looking.“

„Me too“, Harry said softly. 

„But for now you can show me your shooting range, Arthur.“

They went and shot a few rounds while Eggsy told him how and why Roxy wanted to join the Kingsman. After thirty-two years their conversation lost its fluency and intimacy, so they used the obvious topic which had brought them together again: Roxy. She had studied medicine for some years, so maybe she could join the rescue team, Eggsy thought. Harry guessed that the slightly younger man rather not see his daughter in the potential danger a field agent had to endure everywhere and everytime - threats they were both used to. He explained to Eggsy patiently how Kingsman worked, how their education system was built and hinted that she seemed to be a perfect fit for a field agent they bitterly needed.

Roxanne and Eggsy left in the afternoon. Roxy shook his hand and Eggsy kissed his cheek. Harry could feel his hot touch hours afterwards. 

 

A week later, Charly put a heavy envelope on his desk. Rich, white paper with a handwriting barely readable and the author unmistakably Eggsy.

 

Hello Harry,

our lives that were once fused together have parted and are now crushed into each other once more. In our short time last week I didn‘t manage to tell you everything I wanted to, not even one per cent of it, apart from that I have missed you.   
Seeing you again after 32 years was not what I had expected. I‘ve met a lot of people from my old school, old friends from the Navy, but they have always been quite indifferent to me. When I saw you standing in the door I saw you standing on the riverside in the woods behind your father‘s house, or in the middle of our canoe trying not to overturn.   
I sincerely hope I don‘t make you uncomfortable with this melancholic nonsense, I am an old sap as Roxanne likes to inform me at any given opportunity.  
Maybe you are free for coffee this week? My next mission doesn‘t start until Thursday.

Yours,  
always.  
Eggsy.

On the backside of the envelope Eggsy had scribbled his number and Harry did not hesitate a second to call and ask Eggsy out for Wednesday.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry was fucked and he knew it. There was under one minute left on the timer before the ventilator embedded into the four walls surrounding him would release boron trichlorid, turning the small room into an highly effective death cell. After he checked the still locked door he hastily grabbed for the gas mask hanging from his shoulder and stripped it on. It was connected to a small oxygen tank hanging on his back with enough air for about half an hour. 

„Evacuation, now!“, he shouted into the comm, his heart thumping loudly in his painfully tight chest. The thing was, not only didn‘t boron trichlorid take your breath away, it also burned your skin and eyes. For the eyes he had the mask, but the rest of his body is in great danger. 

Merlin voice crackled through the comm. „--krrr- 9 min...es--kr-..“

„That‘s not fast enough!“, Harry said as clearly as possible and then decided to save his breath. If he was going to sit this out he couldn‘t waste a single precious breath of air from the tank. Harry knew techniques to calm his pulse, even out and at the same time shorten his breathing. His body got heavier, he sat down against a wall and waited. For evacuation or death was not yet clear, but he was used to the situation.

3 minutes later he looked at the timer again, feeling slightly dizzy. It stopped at 0, of course. The inrushing gas couldn‘t be heard or seen but already under his gas mask he recognized the stinging smell. The exposed skin of his hands and ankles began to itch, then hurt and then make him wince in pain.

„Merlin, I‘m not going to make it this time“, he whispered, part of him hoping his friend doesn‘t hear how pathetic he‘s become under the pain. 

„Shut up“, the scot barked. His own breathing is the only thing that grounded Harry from the pain, the burn already forming on his skin. „They will be there in a second“, Merlin again.

Harry looked hopefully to the door and was not disappointed. The entrance to the cell burst open under the force of a hydraulic battering ram and behind the dented steel familiar silhouettes entered the room, all of them dressed in suits and made unrecognisable by their masks. 

He recognized Percival through. He was the one who pulled Harry up and hauled him out of the door and threw him into the outstretched arms of two other knights. One was Lancelot, the other was entirely unrecognizable to Harry but he blamed it on the excruciating pain. 

„To the heli“, Percival ordered and the four of them start their way up the stairs onto the roof of the laboratory where a Kingsman helicopter was already waiting for them. Somebody ripped Harry‘s mask off, they all lifted him up into the chopper where he was received by a paramedic. 

The pain made concentrating on their faces and actions so hard. He heard Percival give more muffled orders as the heli took off shakily. Lancelot closed the door and the other knight - the stranger - kneeled right down next to him, taking orders from the paramedic. 

Harry gaze wandered over from him to the doctor. She was cutting his trouser legs up to his knees and considered the red skin with a deep frown. There were already bubbles growing on his ankle, just as well as on his wrists and fingers. He focussed back to the stranger with the gas mask still on.

„Take that thing off“, he croaked.

The third knight looked at him for a moment before he raised his hands and pulled off his disguise, confronting Harry with a sad smile. Even with all the sweat and deep wrinkles of worry on his face Eggsy looked as dashing as ever. 

„Hi Harry.“

„What are you doing here?“, Harry whispered because the pain made him week in the knees. 

„Don‘t know, to much free time I guess.“

The paramedic turned around, stress making her voice sound harsh and aggressive. „Please shut up and help me rinse the burns. Lancelot and Percival, you too.“

They all nodded dutifully and sat down around Harry, each with a limp and carefully letting lukewarm water run over his burned skin. The burn ranged mostly from his fingertips up to his elbows and from his toes to his knees but Harry felt like his whole body was on fire. The paramedic began letting water run over his scalp, too. 

They did it for 15 minutes, in silence mostly, until the burning pain yielded to a numbness Harry‘s only ever experienced after someone injected him the venom of an exotic frog. 

„We have to stabilize his temperature now or the liquid gas left on his skin will freeze“, the nurse said as she instructed Lancelot to help her wrap Harry‘s body, weirdly dressed by the lack of sleeves and trouser legs, into an emergency blanket. 

First Aid was through for now and Harry wished it wouldn‘t feel so damn familiar to be left alone lying on the stretcher until they would arrive in London HQ or the nearest local Kingsman head quarter. Lancelot and Percival retreated to the cockpit, the paramedic took her place in the back, watching her data on her tablet. 

Though this time, Eggsy was there and stayed with him in quiet, looking a bit pale and grim around the mouth. 

„Why the angry face“, Harry whispered, trying to pull off a smile. It didn‘t work as well as he would like it to.

Eggsy turned his gaze to him, a small smile tugging at his eyes. „Because you wanker almost got yourself burned alive.“

„It wasn‘t my fault“, Harry answered, „at least this time.“

„Tell that Merlin“, Eggsy huffed, „he‘s more worried than I am - although he hides it better.“

„You shouldn‘t be“, Harry said, knowing that is beginning to babble. Darkness dragged at his consciousness as the warmth starts to flow back into his body. 

Eggsy tilted his head, regarding him with a soft look. Eventually he - having no unwounded hand to hold - put his palm carefully on Harry‘s hip. 

 

 

How exactly Eggsy had managed to legally board a Kingsman helicopter together with Percival and Lancelot wasn‘t clear to Harry yet but even after being thoroughly nurse in the medical wing he didn‘t really care. 

Now that he was safely lying in a clinical environment, Harry felt miserable and hurt but for once in his life he didn‘t fell into the miserable-patient-role. That was because Eggsy was there and Harry already felt vulnerable enough in his presence, he didn‘t have to make himself more vain and struggeling with his emotions than he already was. 

Of course he soon regretted this decision after Merlin entered the room with the smug but fed-up look of a carer whose Alzheimer‘s patient had run off once again but only made it to the corner shop before he broke his leg slipping off the side walk. Harry had sampled a bright spectrum of similes over the years to help him distinguish between Merlin‘s very nuanced expressions, devices that helped him survive every day.

„Only second degree burn, Harry, I‘ve seen better“, Merlin read off his tablet with a disapproving ‚tsk‘ before he went over to the visitors chair and shook Eggsy‘s hand with a curt nod. The MI6 agent looked at Harry, questioning, but Harry only managed a reassuring blink meaning ‚it‘s alright‘ and ‚he‘s always like this‘.

„Your head after holiday in Portsmouth, probably“, Harry gritted out between his teeth.

Merlin let him get away with it, a small act of mercy for his hurt friend. 

„What do the doctors say?“, Eggsy intervenes, politely but direct. He focusses on Merlin before the handler gives him his full attention. 

„Well, the burn will need about two weeks to fully heal with minimal scarring. It will hurt like a bitch, though, I‘m afraid.“

Harry closes his eyes again before he starts groaning and throwing medical devices across the room. Deep breaths, counting in Chinese...

It‘s quite effective because Merlin seems to sense that he‘s reached his limit for today and shuts up. He even leaves eventually, but not without notifying him at last that the debriefing is postponed to he day of his release from medical.

After the door softly clicks shut, Harry can hear Eggsy drag his chair across the room until he‘s sitting beside him. He can hear his breathing.

„Why are you here?“, he asks before he opens his eyes again. Eggsy has light stubble and he definitely isn‘t wearing the t-shirt for the first time today. 

„Harry Hart, where are your good manners?“, Eggsy smiles, shaking his head in disbelief for show and in relieve he‘s not trying to hide very hard. 

„Gone with that bastards hair“, Harry huffs but manages a weak smile. „But really, Eggsy. You already saved me, you should go home now and have dinner with Roxy or...“

Eggsy snorted. „And who is going to stay with you, huh?“, he asked as a matter-of-factly. 

Harry looked at him doubtingly. „Roxy is going out with her boyfriend tonight, isn‘t she?“

„That‘s not why I‘m here“, Eggsy sighed, proving Harry‘s assumption right. He looked down at his lap and right back up again, searching for a sign of pain in Harry‘s eyes which the older man made sure he wouldn‘t find. 

But as always, Eggsy could read him like an open book.

„You‘re so fucking proud, Harry“, Eggsy smiled, shaking his head. 

„Of what, may I ask?“, he asked back innocently.

„I‘ve had your snot and tears all over me before, you don‘t have to play strong.“

Harry felt the need to swallow. He was sometimes taken off-guard when Eggsy mentioned how intimately they knew each other, even if that was a life-time ago. 

„I am strong“, Harry joked, catalysing his up-roaring panic into sarcasm, and flexed his biceps which led to moving his until then carefully placed hands and created friction between the injured skin and the gauze. He winced in pain, pressing both his eyes and teeth tightly together.

„Incorrigible“, Eggsy muttered and skidded closer on his chair until he was able to rub on hand over Harry‘s shoulder. „You twat.“ He smiled tiredly and Harry swallowed heavily. 

„I‘m not going to apologize“, Harry muttered, tilting his head with a exhausted smile. 

„I‘d never want you to.“ Eggsy‘s hand remained on his shoulder, thumb brushing over his collar bone. Harry again noticed how he wasn‘t used to physical contact at all and more surprisingly how he somehow wished the hospital clothes were made out of thinner linen. 

„Do you remember how me managed as children?“, Harry asked suddenly, still taken aback by their closeness but getting more and more comfortable with it. 

Eggsy smiled, his eyes crinkling in a very lovely way. „When one of us was upset we went into the woods and screamed at the trees until we thought ourselves silly.“

„I mean the dark times. When Mr. Pickles died, or the day you weren‘t...“

„...accepted to college. Yes, I remember“, Eggsy sighed. He looked nostalgic for a moment, the look of a man who recounts the possibilities that have been refused to him. „We squeeze together in my small bed, imagining the stars would shine through the roof. We had to stop crying or else we could not see their light, right?“

Harry swallowed, mesmerized by Eggsy‘s sparkling eyes. How was he even real? Or was he a ghost from the past to comfort him in hard times, loyal and good and knowing him better than he knew himself somehow?

As Harry finally realized, a tear rolled from his eyes and down his cheek. Eggsy didn‘t know what he‘d become, but he knew how he became the man he was now, how his inner child looked like. There was no use trying to hide his vulnerable, broken character, his vain, childish moods, because Eggsy had seen them before Harry had even begun to discover them about himself. 

„Hey there“, Eggsy murmured and his hand wandered upwards to catch the tear before it reached Harry‘s jaw. He cradled the older man‘s cheek with his fingers, withdrawing another tear from Harry‘s stinging eyes.

Harry took a deep breath. „I want to go home.“

 

 

Being on mandatory leave left Harry a bit of free time however that still meant he was bound to the hospital bed for a few days before the doctors send him home. Not being able to walk for more than five steps at a time due to the pain in his feet contradicted his constant urge to pace around the rooms in tedium. Before Eggsy send his invitation on the fourth day after the mission, Harry had re-read two of his favourite books and consumed a 6-hour Jack-Bauer-marathon. The envelope arrived in a Tesla, probably MI6‘s new ecological campaign, and was delivered by a young women in a well-fitting suit. 

Harry thanked her at the door and went back inside, tearing the paper apart and revealing hastily scribbled note written on a notepad.

 

Hello Harry,  
are you well? I hope you can tell me yourself when we meet in person. Please come for a tea sometime tomorrow afternoon at our house, Roxy isn‘t there, unfortunately.  
Sry, am in a bit of a hurry.  
Yours,  
Eggsy.

Harry stroked his thumb over the thin paper and didn‘t try to hide his smile. He grabbed for his phone to order a cab for the next day.

 

 

Eggsy‘s house was fairly gigantic but Harry still managed to make it from the car to the sitting room without breaking into tears. His feet felt numb for half an hour afterwards but it was worth making a dignified appearance, partly at least. 

Eggsy was all soft edges and golden light today in his grey t-shirt and black pair of jeans and Harry felt entirely too thin and stiff in his charcoal grey suit although Eggsy told him that he looked very handsome this day. It was a nice thing to say to someone whose hands were still wrapped in tight bandages and face had not grimacing since the incident itself. 

The house was surprisingly empty and tastefully decorated. Not decorated at all, to be honest. Eggsy did have good furniture, wooden commodes and tables in natural colors, a bit of dark steel in the kitchen, parquet in the dining room. The rooms were bright and filled with light from the high windows which reflected on the white, mostly empty walls. Some photographs of loved ones; Harry swiftly recognized Michelle‘s face in one of them. 

The sitting room was comfortable, plush with pillows and blankets. Harry could imagine Eggsy taking naps here, one hand splayed over his chest and his mouth half opened, reading in front of the fire-place with his reading glasses threatening to slide down the tip of his nose, crashing down after a stressful mission. Right now Eggsy was just sitting straightly, pouring them both hot steaming tea from a minimalistic tea pot. 

„Do you like it?“, the younger man asked and put the pot down again. Harry watched him as he leaned back and brushed his hand sideways through his hair, from the temple to the fine neck hairs. 

„I do, very much.“ Harry send a smile Eggsy‘s way and reached for his tea cup. 

„Me too“, the blond-haired agent smiled back. „But after all the ornament of a house are just the friends who frequent it.“

„You‘re a man of dinner parties then?“

„God no. I‘ve got enough of them on the job“, Eggsy chuckled.

„Cheers“, Harry agreed, lifting his tea cup teasingly. 

„In summer we mostly invite friends over for barbecue“, Eggsy explained in more detail. „In Winter it‘s tea.“

Silence spread between them, not as easy as Harry would like it since something was burning on his tongue since he got invited over via the note from Eggsy.

„I‘m sorry for being so sentimental last week, that was not acceptable.“

Eggsy blinked. „You weren‘t professional...“, he noted neutrally.

„I know that“, Harry interrupted. He didn‘t like to get things he knew he did wrongly to get rubbed under his nose all over. „I do apologize.“

Eggsy chuckled and shook his head dismissively. „Why in the world would I care, Harry?“

Harry swallowed. „Because I certainly made you feel uncomfortable with my childish neediness and melancholia. It‘s not a side of me I wanted to display for you unstrainedly.“

„You‘re not the most truthful person when it comes to yourself, I gathered so much“, Eggsy sighed and put down his cup again. 

„I guess so“, Harry answered hoarsely. He struggled for a moment with his words before he took a deep breath and met Eggsy‘s eyes again. „I have a tendency of pushing people away. I want you to know that.“

„Thank you for informing me“, Eggsy answered, looking slightly smug. „But I won‘t break contact with you because of how you create awkward conversations since 1966.“ 

Harry pursed his lips and lowered his head before he broke into a smile that soon turned into a ashamed chuckle. “I‘m sorry“, he murmured again and felt his eyes crinkle. He felt ridiculous. And, suddenly, he felt uplifted by it, by the way Eggsy accepted this quirk of him and turned it into something good, something to smile mirthfully about. 

He looked up just in time to see Eggsy‘s teeth releasing his lower lips from a hard bite and the changing size of his pupils as he took a deep breath and excused himself to get them a few bites of food from the kitchen for them.

Two hours later (at a time he deemed appropriate for ending his visit) Harry left the grand house with a twitch in the heart. He‘d had an enjoyable time, distracting him from his pain and boredom he had felt at home. Eggsy leaned in the door, arms crossed over his chest as Harry stepped outside into the cold and turned around again for his goodbye.

Eggsy‘s gaze, careful and daring simultaneously, made him feel considerably more hot than he already was under his overcoat.

„I will call you“, Harry promised, taken at surprise by himself. 

Eggsy smiled and nodded before he leaned forward and cupped both of Harry‘s elbows with his hands ass he pressed a small kiss to his cheek, accidentally very near the corner of Harry‘s mouth. Harry reciprocated the gesture in time with a gently smack of his lips and tore his eyes from Eggsy‘s as he made his way down the porch and back to the street.

\----

Harry‘s phone vibrated loudly on the kitchen table. He looked up from his book and regarded it for a moment, considering who would call him at this time of the night. Not his few bereaved relatives for sure, and Merlin would always contact him via the glasses so that left...Eggsy. So it wasn't him who was going to call, a shame.

Harry got up and reached for the phone, pressing it to his ear hurriedly.

„Hello?“

„Hello, Harry“, Eggsy answered, voice all roughed up by exhaustion and the quality of the connection.

„Are you alright?“, Harry asked, throwing a look at his watch. It was three in the morning already.

„Yes, yes, of course. Why?“

„Because why else would you call me at this hour?“

„Oh, yeah, sure- sorry. I just got back from Capetown.“

„So you‘re surely tired“, Harry noted, slightly worried at the slurring in Eggsy‘s words. Fabric shifted on Eggsy‘s side of the line, the sound of a tie being ripped from his collar. 

„Am, but I got to ask you something.“

Harry opened his mouth for an answer already when he stopped and frowned. What could be so important that Eggsy would call him right after an exhausting, long-distance mission?

„Go on“, Harry breathed.

„I had to think about you in the hospital, being all miserable and lonely.“

Harry huffed. „Yes, thank you for the reminder.“

„It‘s not a bad thing“, Eggsy answered, sounding affronted. „Not a bad thing to sometimes let yourself feel things, okay?“

Harry considered ending the conversation. Eggsy was clearly tired out and very direct tonight, and Harry was less and less sure that he had a clue about what Eggsy was going to ask. 

„Okay“, he murmured.

„Right, and if I recall this correctly you also wanted to go home.“

Harry answered nothing. What was this about?

„Harry?“

„Yes, yes, I‘m still here. I‘m home now, Eggsy, I went home the next day.“

„Home, Harry. Home like ‚where you feel home‘.“ A pause, then Eggsy again. „Oh fuck I‘m tired.“

„Go to bed, Eggsy“, Harry said, half affronted by what Eggsy was slowly trying to suggest and half endeared by his exhausted slurring.

„I will. I‘m gonna cut this short: Will you come back home with me? To Hart Manor, I mean. It‘s not far, we could make it with my car in two hours maybe.“

Harry swallowed. So that was what Eggsy was suggesting. That after all this years, after he had made a life in London working in an international job with dangerous people Harry still felt the need to return to his childhood home to find what exactly? Reassurance? Safety?

„Don‘t let me hanging, Harry“, Eggsy reminded him that he was still in line.

It would be with Eggsy, though. And he probably didn‘t mean all that much harm with his words, he just wanted them to indulge in some happy childhood memories. Have them remember a part of their lives they had almost forgotten about. And to be true to himself, Harry really did appreciate that he found Eggsy again. He was in love with the fact that they were still connected, that they still had things in common, that they still liked and trusted each other. He trusted Eggsy, he truly did.

„Yes, Eggsy“, he answered, „a thousand times yes.“


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's sooooo sappy

Thank god it was still spring and a cold one, too, so Harry could cover his bandaged hands and feet in gloves and socks. He didn‘t pick a suit today but instead a crisp white shirt and a dark green jumper as well as his long black coat to go with it

When he pulled his front door shut behind him, Eggsy was already starting the car. Harry stopped on the threshold and looked at the boy from his childhood that had now become a man, probably far stronger and faster and definitely a lot better than him. 

Eggsy‘s impatient honking paired with a blinding smile through the side window pulled him away from his thoughts and he made his way the few steps down to the vehicle. 

He opened the car door and smiled back at Eggsy.

„Good morning“, the younger man said enthusiastically. „You‘re late.“

„My apologies“, Harry mumbled as he climbed into the seat. It took a moment to arrange his limbs and put the seat belt on but when he was finished Eggsy was still waiting for him to meet his eyes.

„Road trip“, he grinned brightly. Harry‘s eyes stuck to the light blond stubble on his chin, the faint scar on his cheek, the hollow of his cheek bones. 

„Road trip“, Harry sighed, slightly nervous by what was to come. 

 

The trip was surprisingly comfortable. No awkward silences, only companionable calmness and relaxation. Harry looked out the window to gaze at the spring breaking out from under the snow while they were driving north and Eggsy found new topics they could explore. Talking to him became easier the more Harry felt reminded of how it used to be. The banter, the friendly words that followed any insult, the low rumbling coming from both their chest. 

It was so comfortable he really didn‘t notice that Eggsy had to stop the car and get out to open the iron fences to the drive way. Or maybe he didn‘t notice that they had arrived at their childhood home because he hadn‘t been here for a good 20 years. 

A cold feeling spread in the pit of his stomach as he watched the younger man pushing open the heavy gates, crested with the familiar stag his family wore as a crest for obvious reasons and uncounted years. 

Eggsy got back in the car without a word and carefully steered the vehicle up the driveway. He stopped right in front of the manor and both men remained seated and still for a moment while they took in the tall facade of the estate house covered by ivory and snow and bird shit on the windowsills. 

Eggsy exhaled deeply before he spoke quietly. „We were both born in this house.“

Harry said nothing.

They went inside after struggeling with the rusty door for a bit and first thing wide opened the windows. The smell was dreadful and the linen-covered furniture threw creepy shadows onto the wooden floor that was rotten every two meters or so. 

Each on their own they strolled through the house passing each other in the hallway or on the stage when they were finished checking how much had changed in each room.

The kitchen could have scored a high price in some vintage hipster shop in London with its tiled stove and enamel pots, also the big and battered table where the servants had eaten back than. Next to the kitchen the dining saloon where Harry‘s family would have taken their meals. Down the hall the sitting room, combined with his father‘s library. 

Harry followed the sound of Eggsy‘s foot steps up the stairs and entered his parents room. It was just as dull and grey just as Harry remembered and he still thought it was a good reflection of how his parents had been, without any personal touch it was just a bland, cold room. Across the hall was the music room were once the grand piano stood along with some flutes and a cello his uncle used to play when he had visited. Said uncle later sold everything of worth that Harry would let him take to pay debts, including the grand piano, some medieval weapons and the riding equipment. 

En suite to the music room was his father‘s office. As a child he was never allowed in there and even later as an adult he avoided the place. It gave him the horrible feeling of overstepping limits that were set since he was born and those rules would die with him.

So he went back to the hall, leaving his own room behind on his left to save up for later and followed Eggsy up into the basement were the servants had lived. Eggsy‘s father had worked as a gardener for his parents, Michelle had helped in the kitchen. With fourteen even Eggsy - but under Harry‘s protest - had been made to work in the stables sometimes.

Harry had often asked himself why that had been. Probably because otherwise it seemed like they were brothers - inseparable as they had been - and his parents wouldn‘t grant the Unwin boy the status of a lord‘s son. Not even if it was imaginative. 

Eggsy‘s old room had been at the end of the basement, the seventh bedroom up here, and the younger man was already lying on the squeaky bed when Harry entered the room.

„Feeling nostalgic?“, he asked innocently and leaned into the door frame. 

Eggsy inhaled deeply. The bed was far too small for his muscular body. It had been too small when he had been 16 back then. 

Eggsy coughed. „I just thought this could have been such a shit hole. The hell of a life as a gardeners son in the country. Fuck Harry, those were the early seventies, not 1880! How did we fall through time like this?“

Harry chuckled and stepped forwards. „We truly lived in a Jane Austen novel, dear.“

Eggsy rolled over on the bed and made space for Harry to slump down on the worn and filthy mattress. Together the men breathed in deeply, feet propped up on the foot of the iron bed. 

Harry considered how it would have been to wake up in this bed every morning instead of his own plush one. How it would have felt to live as a poor in the house of the rich.

„What a shit hole“, he breathed.

„It wasn‘t“, Eggsy disagreed. The younger man faced him and Harry turned his head to meet his eyes. „This was only for the night, at daytime I had you.“

Ten minutes later they made their way down to Harry‘s room were both practically had stored all their things since Eggsy hadn‘t been allowed to own anything more than what fit into his tiny drawer. 

Still, the room was stuffed with many things they had collected as children. Fossils, Harry‘s first amateurishly pinned butterflies and textbooks, Eggsy‘s novels and dog-photographs. The rummaged through the drawer, showing each other things they had long forgotten they owned.

„Look, Harry.“

Harry turned around to be met by the hellish flash of a polaroid Camera. The camera printed while Harry still rubbed his eyes but by the time he had recuperated Eggsy presented him with the photograph. 

„You look dorky“, Eggsy chuckled.

„That was unfairly offhand“, Harry commented and took the camera from Eggsy to take one himself. Eggsy looked angelic in his photograph, the chuckle still embedded in his expression and his eyes closed.

„I‘m keeping this“, Eggsy decided and took Harry‘s picture from him to put it in his inner coat pocket. Wordlessly, Harry did the same with Eggsy‘s photograph. 

 

After being in the dust in dirt and old memories for hours at a time, they decided to take a stroll around the garden while there was still daylight. They took a look at the stable, ruined and rotten, the garage, all motorcycles of Harry‘s father had long been sold away, and the rose garden which lay along a row of bushes hiding the fence of the premises. 

Eggsy upon seeing the border of the garden stood still and swallowed hard. „The pond“, he whispered, grabbed Harry‘s hand and took off to the bushes. Harry followed suit and slowly remembered but before he had the mental image of the hole in the fence behind those leaves recollected, Eggsy had already pulled him into the green. 

„There was a gap“, Eggsy murmured, frantically searching for a way to get through the leafage. 

„I remember“, Harry answered and searched, reached out with his hands and followed the line of least resistance. After half a minutes they were through it, raising up from their crouches. 

„In my memory everything was less...overgrown“, Harry remarked as he mapped his surroundings. They were standing at the edge of a small meadow where once a small path made by cattle and two boys had let to a small forest and behind that the pond lay. 

„If anyone‘s drained the lake I will go rogue“, Eggsy called, already pulling up his trouser legs and halfway into the knee-high grass, stomping towards the small bunch of willows 400 meters ahead. Harry laughed and followed with an equally silly walk.

He caught up right before they reached the group of sad looking trees and overtook Eggsy when he caught a glimpse of the waters reflection.

„Oh my“, he murmured, making his way through low-hanging branches to the shimmering surface of the water. „Eggsy!“, he called, „it‘s all still here!“

And it was. The pond, the oak trees on the other side of pond that really was a small lake, the rope hanging from the strongest branch of the crookedest-looking willow which they used to swing into the water. The small gangplank they built with materials that lay around the estate like pallets and car tires and steel pipes. It was overgrown by moss and yellow bog plant, looking like it belonged there like the tree roots sticking out of the water. 

Eggsy came to stand next to him, frozen in awe at the beautiful sight. The light fell warmly on the reviving, freshly green vegetation, the muddy lake front and the badger‘s set diagonally across the water. 

Then it kicked it, the memories from those early days coming back to Harry all at once. 11-year-old Eggsy standing knee-deep in the water, laughing at boyish Harry who was trying not to fall into the lake as he tried to hand the other boy a piece of wood for the gangplank. Eggsy swinging successfully over the surface and letting himself fall with a funny face. Eggsy swinging not so successfully because the rope ripped halfway into his flight. 

Eggsy touched his arm and pulled Harry out of his trance. He smiled weirdly, as if he‘d rather cry right now, and pointed at a willow behind them.

„Do you remember our pick nicks there? How we lay on those branches and tried not to fall off every time we laughed?“

„Not so successfully“, Harry chuckled, „but we laughed quite a lot.“

„God was I happy“, Eggsy breathed, eyes still fixed on the tree. 

„This was our save haven“, Harry supplied. „Nobody knew we were he.“

„Everyone knew“, Eggsy laughed, blinking at Harry. „Everyone. But it was our place and we would have defended it til death.“

„The adults must have known we would become secret agents one day and that we would seek revenge“, Harry joked dryly and turned back to the lake. The lakeside was filled with blooming crocuses and snowdrops, something he never really appreciated as a child. Nature was nature, a place to play and explore, not something to regain energy from.

„I have never been happier than in this place“, Eggsy said in a somewhat choked voice and Harry felt his friend tense up.

„My my“, he said gently and stepped forward to pull Eggsy into his arms in a flush of protectiveness. His eyes were stinging, too, but it wasn‘t until Eggsy wound his arms around his middle that he was shedding one or two tears that ran down his cheeks gracefully and disappeared into his coat. 

Eggsy felt solid underneath his hands, all compact muscle and soft flesh shuddering once or twice in tiny sobs.


	5. Chapter 5

Half an hour later they were still sitting next to the stove but now delightfully tipsy, both warm enough to peel out of their long overcoats and smoking thin cigarette‘s Harry rolled himself ever since Eggsy‘s father had taught him as a young man. 

„MI6 is a shit-hole“, Eggsy laughed, his eyes glittering in the flickering candle-light, „since V-Day nothing is the same. M is incompetent to the moon and back, our quartermaster holds himself like a 16-year old in bording school and well, you know our agents.“

Harry smiled to himself. „We had our problems, too, in the first months. Especially with Arthur betraying us to our enemies and no junior agents to fill the KIAs.“

„Must have been hard for you and Merlin.“

Harry swallowed and searched in Eggsy‘s eyes for a trace of scorn or irony at last. There was nothing but empathy in them, which led Harry to assume his friend didn‘t know anything about his recent injuries.

„I did not participate in those early stages, I‘m afraid“, he commented and took another drag.

Eggsy watched him, clearly trying to judge what the sudden change of Harry‘s voice, the freezing resentment of the topic meant. 

„You see“, Harry started again, feeling sorry because of his easily hurt pride. „The scar...I obtained it in a rather monstrous way. It ultimately lead to me being in a coma for three months before the doctors pulled me back to life.“

To his surprise, Eggsy smiled kindly. He looked sad though, and without a word lifted his sweater so Harry could take a look at his abdomen where - under the lowest right rip - a peace of flesh clearly missed from the body. The hollow looked gristly and reddened, hard and inflexible. 

„I think we all have our scars from that day“, Eggsy concluded. „Nobody was warned and I was in Finnland at the time, fighting with an arms dealer‘s henchman anyway. It was bad luck that he owned such a phone.“

„And Roxy?“

„In the subway with no signal“, Eggsy sighed. His eyes were fixed to Harry‘s temple, gazing over the spider-web alike net of faint scars. He chuckled softly and met Harry‘s eyes again.

„What?“, he chuckled.

„I always knew that one day you would get yourself shot in the head, Harry Hart. But I was also certain that you are far too thickheaded to let it get under your skin.“

Harry smacked his lips and adjusted his glass only to find Eggsy‘s hand slowly advance towards his face when he looked up again. He let him, let him touch the scar web and the padded texture of his skin from the outer area of his eye back to his ear. He watched Eggsy, watched how his eyes became absent and his smile gentler. The younger man‘s fingers reached his ear before they retreated again. 

Harry caught them halfway between their bodies and pulled them back to his lap, laying their cupped hands down on his thigh and observing Eggsy‘s hands carefully. Finally he looked up, biting his cheek rather uncomfortably. 

„I‘m sorry I never tried to find you.“

Harry was aware how shallow it sounded. He had been too consumed with his own life to waste a thought on Eggsy. That and he surely had repressed any memories and emotions connecting to that time he knew Eggsy, surely knowing that he would never be that happy again. He forget Eggsy, trying to feel better about his life.

Eggsy‘s face didn‘t change a bit, he just watched Harry with mindfully. He didn‘t even look sympathetic or hurt, and somewhere along the way Harry realized that Eggsy simply understood. 

„I‘m sorry, too“, Eggsy said, his voice sounding strong and honest. 

They drank a bit of scotch and held each other‘s hand.

Out of the sudden, Eggsy said: „Do you remember when I kissed you?“

„Yes“, Harry said to his own surprise and blinked a few times. The memory was clear in his head, but only now after Eggsy triggered it he realized that it didn‘t necessarily belonged to the blurry whirlwind of his other childhood memories. The memory felt just as familiar as playing in the garden, but rationally it was something else entirely, in the long run and relative to his feelings now it gained on importance.

Eggsy laughed. „You didn‘t like it.“

„I guess not“, Harry answered, pressing a chuckle out. It must have been in their last summer, shortly before everything had been falling apart with him leaving his home and never coming back for long. That wasn‘t because of the kiss though, just because of life had it‘s ways with Harry before he was strong enough to fight them. Maybe he‘d never left if his father didn‘t made him. Maybe he had been this kind of man, maybe he was still. He looked at Eggsy in the warm light. "It came unsuspected."

„I liked it“, Eggsy confessed with ease, smirking at Harry with a keen light in his eyes. 

„You have always handled surprise better“, Harry acknowledged. 

„Was not really surprise for me, was it? I even knew you wouldn‘t like it“, Eggsy laughed. 

„I guess I was pretty predictable, If I not still am.“

Eggsy met his eyes, smile turning into a slight frown of irritation. 

Harry leaned forward and slung an arm around Eggsy‘s waist to pull him towards his body. It obviously took Eggsy by surprise, this time, almost 35 years later, but when he put his lips on Eggsy‘s twitching mouth, Harry felt whole again. Like some part of him had gone off for wandering‘s some time in his youth and was only now coming home, puzzling itself perfectly into Harry‘s soul. 

It was quick, a brush of lips and the slightest nibble, an encouraging nudge, before Harry backed off again. His eyes were hefted to Eggsy‘s. 

Eggsy looked at him, baffled and gasping to take a deep breath, before he shook his head and chuckled deeply. Harry smiled, falling into the rhythm with a low rumbling of his own. 

Eggsy shrugged. „I still like it, can‘t help it“, he laughed. His hand found Harry‘s again, intertwining their gun-calloused fingers. 

Harry pursed his lips. „I‘m not sure yet, may I try again?“

„Sly bastard“, Eggsy laughed and pulled Harry toward him. Harry leaned over and took Eggsy in his arms, trying and failing to cover every part of Eggsy‘s body with his own. 

„I think I love you“, Harry said, voice more rough than he would have liked. „I think I have never stopped loving you.“

Eggsy cradled Harry‘s face with his hands and put a feathery kiss on his brown, on his cheeks and from there slid down to meet Harry‘s lips which where already parted and waiting for him. 

Harry didn‘t hesitate to dive in and take what he could get from Eggsy, bathing in the good feeling that the younger man was giving it to him with the exact same amount of joy. He licked into Eggsy‘s mouth and pulled on his lips with his teeth, his head almost exploding with how wonderful it felt. 

They parted to take a breath and look at each other.

„I don‘t remember you kissing like a nymphomaniac on a death row“, Eggsy said, looking flushed and thrilled and glowing warmly.

Harry smiled, leaning his forehead against Eggsy‘s but soon loosing to the want of kissing the man‘s neck. „Maybe it‘s time for some new memories then.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is it until I decide to write a sappy epilogue. Thanks to everyone who sticked through with it, leave a comment if you have annotations or questions or just you would just generally like to express your feelings <3


End file.
